


The Guardian

by KibaSin



Series: Past Time [33]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: F/M, Mild Language, Minor Violence, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-20
Updated: 2013-07-20
Packaged: 2017-12-20 18:58:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/890707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KibaSin/pseuds/KibaSin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were supposed to get rid of a pack of demons that had somehow managed to cross the barrier. However, they weren't expecting for these juveniles to have taken a hostage. A girl that didn't seem to be special in any way—how wrong they turned out to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Guardian

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any material belonging to the creators of Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho.

* * *

Their eyes widened, watching as the juvenile demon lifted the woman off the ground. They had been told by Koenma that the mission would be very easy because of the inexperience the demons had, but apparently he didn't have all the facts straight. Just like fucking usual.

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara shouted. "Don't just stand there, shoot the damn thing!"

"No," Kurama said, "He'll hit the girl!"

"Yeah, you idiot, Kuwabara!" Yusuke growled. He didn't know what to do. Keiko had broken up with him a few weeks ago, and he was trying to take as many missions as possible to get his mind off of it. He didn't think that one of them would cause him to make a serious decision. Get rid of the juveniles, thus killing the girl, or allow them to go on a rampage?

"Hn," Hiei snorted. "Shoot, detective. One life sacrificed for many? I think the odds are against the girl."

"Hiei," Kurama shook his head, "he can't just do that! Every life is—"

"What the hell!" Kuwabara shouted, his eyes widening further.

"You have it!" the demon hissed. "I know you have it! Give it to me!"

"You know how many times I've heard that?" the girl laughed.

The demon's grip tightened, a growl of frustration filling his throat. "Where are you hiding it, you worthless human? Where?"

"Not anywhere you're going to find it!" she continued to laugh.

"Worthless wench!" the demon spat. "Give me the Shikon no Tama!"

Hiei and Kurama stiffened at those words, both having heard legends and been told many times what exactly the jewel was. How had one human girl gotten her hands onto it? It was said to have been lost for centuries. Kurama narrowed his eyes, his nose sniffing the air lightly. "She's not afraid."

Yusuke lowered his arm, blinking. "What do you mean she's not afraid? She's fucking being held a good four feet above the ground! There's no fucking way she's not afraid!"

"She's not," Hiei added. "Her aura gives away her calm."

"When will you demons learn to get some original material?" the girl asked. Her voice was slightly strained, but otherwise she still seemed quite all right. "Do you want to know how many times I've heard that one, too?"

"Shut up and give me the jewel, wench!"

"Why would I do that?" she chuckled. "I just put the last few pieces together. I don't think that as it's Guardian I should be giving it to strange demons that I don't even know."

"Disgusting human," the demon snapped. "If you won't give me the Shikon, I will kill you and slice your body to pieces until I find it!"

The other juveniles laughed, all of them moving closer in order to hopefully get a piece of her. They watched as their leader raised his hand, but paused at her words. They narrowed their massive eyes, each wondering at her words and the reason why she did not even flinch at the thought of death.

"You'll never find it," she whispered.

The demon growled. "What makes you think that? Once I have the jewel, I will take over this world and there will be nothing those Reikai fools or their pitiful dogs will be able to stop me!" He was laughing by the time he finished, but her next words stopped his laugh halfway through.

"I am the Shikon no Tama, fool," she snapped. "To kill me would be killing the jewel. No wish can be made upon it any longer. The Shikon and I are one, and we will live for all eternity in peace." She swung her hand up, and barely touched the juvenile, before he turned to dust. Her body dropped, but she landed easily, her arms coming up as she faced off with the others.

The others growled. " _Miko_!"

"Anyone know what the fuck just happened?" Yusuke asked.

"Hn, she purified him."

"What the hell does that mean?" Yusuke snapped, turning his eyes until he met the crimson of his companion. However, it appeared that Hiei didn't wish to give away any more information, his eyes instead turning to the sight in front of them.

"A miko is a woman that is taught the art of purification, Yusuke," Kurama tried to explain. "From what I know, they are also taught the healing arts, and long ago they were raised to protect their village from demon attacks. Before the barrier was placed, they were the ones that prevented demons from killing humans. Usually they held a strong hate against demons, and they would kill them upon first sight, but some would only attack demons if they attack their village or themselves first. Then, if anyone had been injured, they would heal them. Once the barrier was placed, though, they were no longer needed and eventually the line disappeared."

"Then how the hell—"

"I do not know," Kurama answered.

"Does anyone else wish to obtain the famed Shikon no Tama?" she taunted.

Three charged at her.

She dropped to the ground easily, the claws of one missing by a few inches. Instantly she rolled to the left, escaping the attack of the second, and then flipped back up onto her feet to evade the final demon. However, once she landed back onto her feet, she moved easily, and quicker than the eye could see, she ended up standing on the shoulder of the third demon. She was smirking, her blue eyes twinkling, as the demon tried to get rid of her. As its claws came closer, she moved again, allowing it to take its own arm, and screech in pain.

Her feet hit the ground, her hands barely grazing the now bleeding demon, before its body turned to dust. Then, she dropped to the ground again, her hands keeping her from landing completely, as her foot tripped another juvenile. It wasn't even able to hit the ground before it to was purified, its ashes floating off into the wind that had picked up.

Yusuke blinked, "How the hell did she do that?"

"Easily," Kurama said, a slight growl in his voice. "A miko's powers attack the demon blood. It literally erases it from existence through the process they call purification. The body is destroyed much in the same way, turning it to dust. It is a terrible way for a demon to die. Not even an honorable death to many, for they are destroyed before they can even touch their opponent."

Yusuke stared for a moment, but then thought better to ask what was wrong. Youko had probably had some type of bad encounter with a miko once and the feelings he'd felt toward their kind was being transferred to Kurama. "Well," Yusuke said, turning his head back toward the fray, as the girl destroyed three more juveniles. "Our missions is still to kill those demons, so we better go help her."

"Hn," came a short response.

Yusuke barely had time to turn, before Hiei was close to the girl, his sword drawn as he slashed through one of them. Yusuke snorted, and raced forward, knowing that Kurama had already gotten into the action when the green whip came flying past him. Kuwabara's battle cry was also heard, but he wanted to get into the middle, where the girl was, in order to take out as many as he could. It'd be fun to see just how many of the large group he could kill, and then rub it in Kuwabara's face later if he killed more than his friend.

His fist slammed into the face of a demon close to him, before he turned to knock another away in the same fashion. They seemed to have realized the threat that the miko was to them and decided to go after them instead, though some where still giving shouts for the "Shikon no Tama" to be given to them. He didn't know what that was, but he had a feeling it shouldn't fall into the hands of these demons. Especially if what the girl said was true and she was really was this jewel, though that really didn't make much sense. But then again, a lot of stuff he'd done over the years didn't make much sense.

He turned his head when he felt the wind shift around him, and found the girl standing close by. Her hair was lifting up as if she was going to go into some type of transformation, her energy swirling around him. He felt it prickle his skin, his own demon blood frightened by the power she radiated, but felt it lessen around him, barely even noticed afterward. His eyes moved past her to the demon she'd obviously stopped from hitting him, and growled.

"Hey, you have to watch your back," she shouted. "You're going to get yourself killed!" Her hand swung out, grabbing hold of the blade that had been aimed for her skull. Blood dripped down from her palm, but she didn't give it any notice, as she pulled the blade forward, wrenching it from the demons hold. In a fluid motion, she flipped the blade into the air and caught it by the hilt, instantly turning it against its owner. Purification energy swarmed down the blade, turning it a holy blue, as it sliced into the demons flesh. The demonic energy from the blade fought against the purification of the miko, but a smirk merely formed onto her lips and a strange energy swarmed down her arm.

Yusuke's eyes widened at the demonic power rushing from the miko's body. He turned in time to quickly put up his hand and let out his Spirit Gun, as four of the juveniles rushed at him. The energy went straight through many of them, none of them having time to get away. However, he'd managed to put a small amount of spirit energy into it, stopping it from being large enough to destroy anything human made close by. Then, his eyes turned back to the supposed miko, watching as a black energy swarmed around her, much like the way Hiei's dragon did whenever he used it. However, when a dragon of black flames didn't appear, he noticed that the form of a very grotesque demon did seem to flicker in and out of existence as if it were apart of her.

Flinging the blade aside, she put her hand out, and released the demonic energy surrounding her. It quickly turned into the form of a large demon, which seemed to be made up of many different demons, like they'd joined together in order to create one body. She fisted her hand, her energy shooting to the surface in order to control the beast, as it turned its sight onto the juveniles quickly coming to know they were going to die. It opened its large mouth, barely giving them any time to move, as it rushed down upon them, instantly swallowing them whole, as the battle began to come to an end.

Yusuke's eyes watched her closely; noticing the exact moment another image appeared behind her. A woman which seemed to have a small resemblance to the miko standing in front of him, but with glowing eyes, armor, and a strange design on her forehead. They were standing in the same stance, as the demon the miko had unleashed turned its attention toward them, growling deeply. He lifted his hand, noticing that it had taken care of the juveniles, but it had now set its sight on the miko who'd unleashed it.

The demon roared, flying at the miko, its jaws opening to swallow her as well. However, she moved, her right hand coming down to grab ahold of a sword that had not been at her side before. She pulled the glowing blade from its sheath, and as the demon neared, the image behind her moved into the same stance, holy energy swirling around them dangerously. When the demon was just ready to eat her, and Yusuke was ready to let loose another Spirit Gun, the miko raised the sword and slip the demons form into pieces.

The roar that followed was loud enough to damage an ear easily, but it suddenly stopped. The energy, dark and malevolent, swirled into the air, forming a dark spiral around the miko as the spirit detectives watched. However, almost as quickly as it had been formed, it pulsed and was absorbed into her body.

Yusuke blinked, looking for the demon. "What the hell just happened?"

"That weird demon was sucked into her flesh," Kuwabara said.

"That  _weird demon_ ," the girl said, "is apart of me. If you want to insult it with idiotic terms, then I suggest you do it when you're not in my presence unless you wish to die, mortal."

They each blinked at the words, though there was a small smirk on Hiei's lips.

"What do you mean by mortal?" Kurama asked, his eyes sharp.

"I mean exactly what I said, avatar," she said, turning toward them. "Excuse me for my rudeness," she bowed, "I am Higurashi Kagome, Guardian and Human Form of the Shikon no Tama."

"Human form?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes," she said. "I may look human, but I have not been for the last few months."

"Months?" Yusuke asked, taking a step toward her. "You better start talkin'—"

"Yes," she sighed. "When I finished the Shikon no Tama, having to come back to this era in order to find the remaining pieces, the jewel decided to become one with me. In doing so, I gained the powers of both Midoriko and the demon she fought, both of which are trapped inside the jewel in an endless battle. Then, I was summoned to that fool Enma, who wished to have every detail of my transformation given to him. Ever since I have been under constant surveillance, so you can stop with the questioning detective, your boss has all the answers you could ever want about me."

"You were summoned to Enma?" Yusuke asked, his lip tugging in thought of what had probably happened.

"Yes, apparently he'd wished to first extract the Shikon no Tama from me, but as its Guardian I have a status as high if not higher than he," Kagome smirked. "Afterward, he decided that he would allow me to go free, instead of placing me into that disgusting prison I could have easily destroyed, as long as I hid the presence of the jewel. That, however, is no so easy to do when he wants me to stop hiding myself completely in order to watch my movements."

"Really," Yusuke said, "That's interesting. How exactly did you keep him from trying to extract this jewel from you?"

"I pulled rank," she replied. "I told him that if he didn't wish for the Reikai's leadership to be overthrown that he would sit down and shut up."

Yusuke and Kuwabara began to laugh. Hiei and Kurama merely stared, though the smirk on Hiei's lips had widened just a bit.

"Of course, he didn't take to kindly to that, and asked me if I wanted to be thrown into the frozen North of Makai. I kindly reminded him that I could easily use the powers the demon inside the Shikon no Tama gave me in order to travel quickly to another part of Makai. Then, I told him that once there I would unleash the demon that Midoriko had such a hard time destroying upon the Makai, before coming after him," she sighed. "Creatures such as Enma always think they have such great powers that no one would be able to get close enough to harm them."

Yusuke coughed in order to contain his laughter, and then straightened himself. "Well, we're still going to have to take you to the toddler," he said.

"You mean Ko _enma_?" she asked. "I've met him as well. Just tell him my name and leave it at that, detective. He will understand." She turned her head toward the sky, "Besides, I don't wish for another encounter with that  _boy_. He was rather rude until he found out from his father exactly who I was and what I have done."

"What you've done?" Kurama asked out of curiosity.

"I saved the past from a hanyou named Naraku, and gathered the shards of the Shikon no Tama," she said. "As was my responsibility when I broke it."

"That's nice and all," Yusuke said, "But we've saved the world, here, in the present."

"Technically, if you wish to put it that way, detective," she scowled, "I 'saved the world' before your ass was conceived."

"Yeah, well I had to go through a tournament filled with demons that wanted to kill me," Yusuke replied.

"I was captured countless times because I could see the shards of the Shikon  _and_  faced off with demons that still exist today and lived to tell the tale."

"Well, I had a fucking old woman that was constantly on my ass to train, never giving me a minutes rest until I got everything perfect," he growled.

"I had a hanyou slave-driver who dragged my ass all over the feudal era, spat insults in my face constantly, and even through all that I still followed him. I watched from the background after a piece of my soul was stolen from me as my incarnation came back to life and stole his attention from me. I went into battle with a powerful hanyou without him because a dead woman called upon him, only to nearly be killed when he showed. I  _went_  into countless battles with little experience, having to rely on instincts just to keep my ass alive without any training," she hissed. "And throughout it all I still stayed alive."

"Well, I've died!" Yusuke shouted.

"I've had my soul stolen from me many times," she spat. "Dying is one thing, trying having your soul painfully sucked from your body and then watching as your body is controlled in order to kill your closest friends."

"I've died more than once!"

"Then you're stupid," she replied. "That's not my problem."

"Wench!"

"Bastard," she said. "You do know that an eye for an eye eventually makes the whole world blind, correct?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Yusuke threw up his hands.

"And Koenma made  _you_  his top spirit detective?" Kagome laughed. "Seriously?"

Yusuke glared at her.

"Personally," she said, "I would rather have Hiei be the leader of any team I made, than you."

Kurama blinked, "You know each other?"

"Who, me and Hiei?" she asked.

Kurama nodded.

"Oh, yeah," she smiled. "He sometimes sleeps in the Goshinboku, which resides on the grounds of the shrine my family owns. It is very peaceful; I can understand why he'd pick that place to rest. Especially now, when I've placed a memory barrier around the shrine."

"Memory barrier," Kuwabara asked, his eyes still shifting between Yusuke and Kagome. He didn't like the fact that Yusuke had suddenly gone off into an argument with a girl he didn't know, but he was curious about this 'memory barrier'.

"A barrier that…  _remembers_  a persons aura and allows only demons I trust to pass. I cannot stop humans from coming to the shrine unless they have stepped upon the grounds and I force them to leave," she frowned.

"Strange…" Kurama said. "I could have sworn he told Yusuke earlier to merely kill you."

" _What!_ " she hissed, but her attention quickly turned away to the apparition.

"Hn."

"Hiei, you're only saying that because you don't like him," she spat. "I can't stop Hojo from coming to the shrine, my mother would have a fit. Besides, he's just a naïve boy who will eventually figure out that I have no interest in him, especially when I will outlive him."

Hiei glared at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I say that aloud?" she giggled nervously. "Forget I said that."

"Little hard to do when it already came out of your mouth," Yusuke said.

"I could always ask Hiei to erase your memory," she hissed.

"Hn, I wouldn't go anywhere near that thing he calls a mind," Hiei muttered.

"Good point," she said. "I don't blame you, I wouldn't either."

"Hey!" Yusuke shouted. "Stop talking about me when I'm standing right here!"

"Oh, of course, I wouldn't want to hurt the 'oh great spirit detectives' feelings," she smirked.

"Urameshi, stop shouting at her, she's a girl!"

"Yes, listen to your friend,  _Urameshi_ ," she chuckled.

"Like hell I'd listen to Kuwabara's stupid code crap!" Yusuke snapped.

"Hey!" Kuwabara shouted.

"Why in the world are you so quick to snap, detective?" she asked. "I have done nothing wrong, yet for nearly the last eight minutes you've been trying to argue with me. Strange, but I seem to remember a certain hanyou who couldn't admit he liked him that did the same thing."

"Yeah, like I'd ever like an ugly girl like you," Yusuke snorted.

"Ugly?" she asked. "Wow, that was cre-aaaa-tive."

"Tch."

"Well, as interesting as this is," she sighed, "I must return home. I merely came here because I felt the spike in demonic activity. But, I really must be going, considering the fact I have a powerful artifact that Enma made me guard sitting on my… desk… crap!"

She swung around, glaring at Hiei. "Don't you dare start that! If Souta gets his hands onto that thing there's going to be chaos at my house! Think of what could happen to the Goshinboku, Hiei!"

"Hn, like I care about that stupid tree." Hiei turned his gaze away, not liking the look that came over her face.

"Oh, so you sleep there just to look into my room?" she asked. She knew it sounded like he'd said something to her telepathically from the way she'd waited a moment to say so. "Cause, I have noticed the way you're always on that branch outside my window."

Kuwabara began to laugh. "The shrimp…!"

Hiei glared, his claws gently tapping against the hilt of his sword.

She smirked, and then took a step toward Yusuke. "Good day, detective! I do hope that we'll have the  _pleasure_  of seeing each other again!" she reached up, and pinched his cheek as hard as she could between her fingers, before jumping back, waving, and almost seeming to disappear.

Kurama blinked. "That was certainly interesting. I do not believe I have ever heard of such a miko."

"Hn."

Kuwabara continued to laugh. "The… shrimp…"

Yusuke glared in her direction, his hand coming up to sooth the place she'd grip his cheek between her fingers. "Come on," he said, flipping open his communicator. "We don't have time to stand here all day." His eyes turned to Hiei. "Though, you're going to tell us exactly where this shrine is so that I can repay that bitch for pinching me."

"Hn."

"That better be a yes, Hiei."

"Hn."

Yusuke scowled. "Bastard."

Kurama smiled. "If it wasn't for your tone, I would have sworn you wished to see her again, Yusuke."

"What!" Yusuke shouted. "See that bitch again! No way! I'd rather she rot in hell!"

"Of course, Yusuke," Kurama smiled.

"Stop giving me that look!"

_\--Fin_


End file.
